Biking Bent Creek

I chose it because it's mostly flat, but there are a couple of small hills.

I got on a bike for the first time in eight years (except for the mile or so I rode the first day I had the bike). The weather was good for the first day in almost a week, so I threw the bike in the back of the car and went out to Bent Creek. I rode down the first hill hoping I'd have the strength to get back up, did a couple miles to the parking lot at the Arboretum, rode a little ways uphill and turned around and came back. I think the way out was an ever-so-slight downhill most of the way because it seemed like a slight uphill a lot of the way back, but I made it up that final hill, surprising myself just a little. I did about five miles and will do it again tomorrow if there's no rain after work.

I need to take off some weight, and Laurey has inspired me. If she can ride cross-country, I can do a few miles at the Arboretum and Bent Creek. In a few months, I see myself riding up to the Blue Ridge Parkway (about two miles uphill, I think), and around some of the fire roads.

My first goal is to make it around the 3.3-mile loop I usually hike at the Arboretum. The first mile is uphill, the second mile downill and the rest is flat. Or, if I go the other way around, the uphill seems to be a little more gradual. No matter, I just want to do it without having a heart attack.